Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Mudiay, Thomas, Orton

March 26th, 2015 at 9:05pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Goran Dragic was a bit shocked that the Suns dealt his former teammate Isaiah Thomas to the Celtics at this season’s trade deadline, Ben Rohrbach of WEEI 93.7 FM writes. “If I’m honest, I was a little bit surprised, especially because I asked for the trade,” said Dragic. “But that’s how the NBA goes. It’s a business. Unfortunately, we had three point guards at the same position and only one ball, so it’s kind of hard to satisfy everybody.”

Presumably, Dragic was talking about his request that the Suns trade him, as they ultimately did when they sent him to the Heat, rather than suggesting that he asked the Suns to trade Thomas, though that’s not entirely clear. Here’s more from around the league:

Metta World Peace‘s deal for the remainder of the season with Italy’s Pallacanestro Cantù is worth approximately $40K plus bonuses, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports.
Projected 2015 lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay has parted ways with agent Raymond Brothers, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (Twitter link). The guard will now be represented by Jason Martin and Dwon Clifton of Rival Sports Group, Givony adds. Mudiay is currently the No. 3 ranked prospect according to DraftExpress and ESPN.com.
Daniel Orton, who appeared in 22 contest for the Sixers during the 2013/14 campaign, doesn’t look back at his time in Philadelphia fondly, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Orton discussed what it was like to go from the Thunder organization to the Sixers’, saying, “Leaving the Thunder, you see the greater side of the NBA. I went into Philly and a situation where it was the total opposite. You got a team just trying to rebuild basically from scratch and blowing up anytime you had something going good. So you definitely learn the business side of it.” Orton has played in China and the Philippines this season after attending training camp with the Wizards.

Western Notes: Anderson, Douglas, Barron

March 26th, 2015 at 7:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Ryan Anderson, who has been out of action since February with an MCL sprain in his right knee, could be making his return for the Pelicans next week, John Reid of The Times Picayune writes. ”We’re progressing each day and continue to ramp up to be ready,” Anderson said. ”We’ll do a little more on the court. There is a mental aspect where I got to get over the fact that my knee is stronger and OK. There is still some strengthening I need to build up. But we’re doing everything we can and it is frustrating and it’s tough being out.” In 52 games this season the big man has averaged 14.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per night.

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

Earl Barron‘s deal with the Suns for the rest of the season is indeed just that, without any extra years tacked on, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Jordan Hamilton‘s latest Clippers contract is a two-year arrangement with non-guaranteed salary for next season, Pincus tweets.
The Pelicans tacked a non-guaranteed minimum salary for next season onto their deal with Toney Douglas, Pincus relays (Twitter link). His 2015/16 pay becomes guaranteed if he remains under contract through August 1st, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders Pelicans salary page.
Bryce Cotton‘s multiyear deal with the Jazz covers both 2015/16 and 2016/17 with non-guaranteed salaries, as Pincus also reports (Twitter link).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Mavs Want New Deal With Amar’e Stoudemire

March 26th, 2015 at 12:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

Mark Cuban signaled that he’d like to keep Amar’e Stoudemire beyond the rest-of-season deal he signed with the team following his buyout with the Knicks, as Cuban told reporters, including Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News and Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Stoudemire’s choice of the Mavs over the Suns, a team in which he had an “extremely high” level of interest in joining, and other suitors indicates that he’ll again consider signing with Dallas this summer, MacMahon figures, though it doesn’t appear an open-and-shut case. Stoudemire called the summer ahead a chance for him to choose a team that has confidence in him and understands that he’s eager to play at a high level for years to come, as Sefko relays, and MacMahon believes he’ll prioritize winning, playing time, and money.

“I love Amar’e — love, love, love the guy,” Cuban said. “There’s not enough superlatives. He’s just a great guy on the court and off. I just love his physicality. He just wants to win and is a great guy.”

Cuban makes a habit of saying he wants to keep his teams intact only to shuffle the roster, Sefko points out. Still, the owner isn’t upset about Stoudemire’s criticism of his new teammates, citing the 13-year veteran’s experience as reason to let him speak his mind, Sefko notes. Dallas will probably offer Stoudemire a “significant” portion of the mid-level exception this summer, MacMahon believes. The non-taxpayer’s mid-level will be $5.464MM and the taxpayer’s amount will be $3.376MM, though if the Mavs dip below the cap, they’ll instead have the $2.814MM room exception.

MacMahon envisions Stoudemire asking for a multiyear deal, which jibes with the 32-year-old’s intent to maintain his performance well into the future. Stoudemire said he believes he can play another five or six years if he keeps his body in tune, as Sefko and MacMahon relay. The strong reputation of Mavs athletic trainer Casey Smith helped persuade the big man to sign with Dallas, as MacMahon wrote last month, but Phoenix’s training staff is as well-regarded as any in sports, and Stoudemire would reportedly welcome a return to the Suns this summer. In any case, Stoudemire said “there’s no way” he’s retiring this summer, according to Sefko.

Reports linked Stoudemire to the Blazers, Grizzlies, Spurs, Clippers, Raptors and Warriors while he was considering where he would play following his Knicks buyout, and that suggests there will be plenty of teams in the mix for him again this summer. In any case, he assuredly won’t be making the salary of almost $20.911MM the Knicks are shelling out for him this year, an amount that was to have been even greater before he gave up $2.5MM in the buyout. His deal with the Mavs gives him a prorated minimum salary, and Dallas would have to use cap room or an exception to give him more than 120% of the minimum next season, since they have only Non-Bird rights to him. The Mavs have about $28MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but several members of the team are set to hit free agency.

Pacific Rumors: Cousins, Jordan, Stoudemire

March 26th, 2015 at 11:52am CST by Chuck Myron

Two coaching changes and more losing for the Kings have thrown DeMarcus Cousins for a loop this year, but he’s determined to learn from adversity, as Michael Lee of The Washington Post details.

“It’s been a circus, man. It’s been a complete circus,” Cousins said of this season. “We got off to a hot start. Unfortunately, I got sick, so it ruined the look of the team. I take some blame for that. I know for a fact, if I wouldn’t have gotten sick, things wouldn’t have happened the way it happened. It was no way it could. At the same time, a lot of it is not my fault and we all know why. But this has been a disappointing year.”

George Karl‘s up-tempo system doesn’t really fit Cousins but the center will keep an open mind about it, Lee writes. Cousins is in the first year of a four-year max extension. Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:

DeAndre Jordan said he loves the city of New York but isn’t thinking about his free agency this summer, as he told reporters, including Marc Berman of the New York Post, after the Clippers beat the Knicks on Wednesday.
Amar’e Stoudemire‘s said his interest in joining the Suns after his buyout with the Knicks was “extremely high,” according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. “But I wanted to compete for a championship this year,” Stoudemire added. “That’s one reason why I didn’t choose the Spurs, because I knew it’d be a letdown for all my Phoenix Suns fans. I couldn’t do it. It was a tough decision, but I wanted to win this year.”
Wesley Johnson is finds it frustrating to be hitting free agency for a third year in a row, observes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The Lakers have a general affection for him, and Johnson has been considering a new deal with the team this summer, in spite of L.A.’s hesitance to give him more than a one-year deal the past two offseasons, as Bresnahan also relays. “It’s one of those things where you definitely don’t want to jump ship when something’s going bad,” Johnson said of the Lakers. I actually want to be a part of it to see if we can get back on the right foot. We’ll see what happens this offseason, see what direction they’re going.”

Pacific Notes: Nash, Wear, Len

March 25th, 2015 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Speaking at his retirement press conference Steve Nash said that he considered his time with the Lakers a failure, Joey Ramirez of NBA.com relays. “I came here with huge hopes and dreams and was incredibly excited and humble to have the opportunity to come here and play for the Lakers and the world’s biggest fan base,” Nash said. “For it just not to be in the cards was a failure and a huge disappointment. It’s been a difficult period of my career and my life to battle through that and to try to make something of it, which was fruitless in the end. But I know I’ve never worked harder. I never wanted something more, and I never worked harder. It just wasn’t to be.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Nash said that he understands the backlash he received from Lakers fans regarding him not being around the team this season, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register writes. “I really needed to get away,” Nash said. “I had an incredible amount of stress and anxiety. I wanted something so bad and held on way too long. Probably over-trained to get there. I needed to get some space.”
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek insists that center Alex Len will be “a great player,” and his rapid progress is seen on almost a daily basis, Matt Petersen of NBA.com writes. “He’s getting smarter and smarter every day,” Hornacek said. “He’s backed off a little bit on the pick-and-rolls. He knows the speed of the guys better, it seems like. He made a couple plays where I thought guys were going to have lay-ups…yet he can block it late. Those are big plays.”
Quite a bit has changed with the Kings organization since David Wear, who recently inked a 10-day deal with the team, was in training camp with them earlier this season, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. The forward is excited to get a shot to play in the NBA, Jones adds. “Of course I’ve been waiting, hoping for a call-up, so when I got the call, I was thrilled,” Wear said. “That’s what this whole year’s been all about, and it’s good to finally be here.”

Suns Notes: Trades, Thomas, Knight, Dragic

March 24th, 2015 at 11:28am CST by Chuck Myron

Most executives from other teams around the league said they wouldn’t have given up Isaiah Thomas and the Lakers’ protected first-rounder for what the Suns acquired in return at the deadline, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Phoenix ended up with Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton and Cleveland’s 2016 top-10 protected first-round pick, as our trade deadline recap shows.

“Everybody loves the L.A. pick,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough told Lowe. “The concept of a pick is great, but it’s more of a sure thing to get a 23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”

That 23-year-old is Knight, the soon-to-be restricted free agent whom the Bucks declined to trade straight-up for the Lakers pick, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com first reported and as Lowe reiterates. There are conflicting reports about whether Milwaukee turned down a Knight-for-Goran Dragic offer from the Suns, but several league sources tell Lowe that the Bucks indeed rejected such an offer. Lowe and others have plenty more from Phoenix:

Suns coach Jeff Hornacek insisted to Lowe that the idea behind collecting Dragic, Thomas and Eric Bledsoe on the same roster before the season was to afford all three of them rest so they’d be fresh for the playoffs, as Lowe relays in the same piece.
The Suns won’t spend money for the sake of spending it in free agency this summer, McDonough tells Lowe, who nonetheless believes it’s imperative that the Suns make the most of the additional cap flexibility that their deadline deals created.
Steve Nash‘s retirement underscores just how well the Suns made out in the 2012 sign-and-trade that sent him to the Lakers, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines. Knight is the primary asset that the Suns snagged thanks to what they gained in the deal, Coro points out, though president of basketball operations Lon Babby believes there was a subtle cost that lingers. “It was among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, decisions we’ve had to make since I’ve been here…” Babby said of letting Nash go. “We made the right decision. I’m just disappointed it didn’t work out better for [Nash]. He defined our culture. To be honest about it, when you assess a trade like that, we gave up intangibles that we’re still trying to replace.”

Southeast Notes: Sessions, Deng, Oden, Scott

March 24th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Ramon Sessions is growing more comfortable with the Wizards, especially offensively, after a deadline-day trade that brought him to Washington ended a brief and unusual tenure with the Kings, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post details.

“I’ve been around for a while and I’ve been around with a few different teams and it was probably one of the strangest things, to have three coaches by the All-Star break,” Sessions said. “A lot different things you’re hearing from different people and it didn’t really correlate with what was going on on the court. So it was tough. It definitely was tough. Me being an older guy, it was a little easier, but I know for some of the young guys it had to be real tough.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:

The Suns reportedly had interest in Luol Deng at last year’s trade deadline and during this past offseason‘s free agency, but they didn’t ask about him as they negotiated the Goran Dragic deal with the Heat last month, Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports.
The Heat have been planning a free agency push for 2016, but that’ll be difficult unless team president Pat Riley wants to break up the core he has now, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel examines.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta has suggested that Greg Oden will make another NBA comeback attempt, but the former No. 1 overall pick had limited passion for the game last season with the Heat, Winderman writes in the same piece.
The toe injury that’s sidelined Hawks power forward Mike Scott doesn’t involve a broken bone as previously reported, writes Paul Newberry of The Associated Press. Scott was reportedly expected to miss four to six weeks as of a week ago, but now it’s likely he’ll be back at full strength for the playoffs, according to Newberry. The postseason begins three weeks from Saturday. The team’s 10-day contract with Austin Daye, whom the Hawks signed to offset the loss of Scott, expires overnight tonight.

Suns Sign A.J. Price To 10-Day Contract

March 21st, 2015 at 6:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SATURDAY, 6:44pm: The Price signing is official, tweets Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Price will be on the Suns’ active roster for tonight’s game in Houston.

FRIDAY, 5:34pm: The Suns will release Seth Curry and sign A.J. Price to a 10-day contract, a league source told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Price played for the Pacers and Cavaliers this season. He appeared in 10 games with Indiana, averaging 10.5 points, 2.7 assists and 19.3 minutes, before the club waived him in late November. Cleveland claimed him off waivers and he appeared in 11 games with the Cavs, averaging just 2.0 points, 1.2 assists and 7.9 minutes, until they waived him in early January.

The former University of Connecticut guard played 28 games for the Timberwolves last season. He played 57 games, including 22 starts, with the Wizards during the 2012-13 season.

Curry appeared in just two games with the Suns after signing a 10-day contract earlier this month. The younger brother of Warriors star Stephen Curry had been playing for the Magic’s D-League affiliate. His first tie to the Suns came when he joined the team for summer league action this past July. Curry averaged 23.5 points in 37.0 minutes per game with the Erie BayHawks before joining Phoenix.

Eric Gordon Plans To Opt In With Pelicans

March 19th, 2015 at 2:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

Eric Gordon gave a clear signal this week that he intends to pick up his player option for next season, worth more than $15.514MM, and stay with the Pelicans, referring to next season as a “contract year” in remarks that John Reid of The Times-Picayune relays. Player option aside, next season is the last on Gordon’s contract. The shooting guard echoed coach Monty Williams, who recently praised Gordon for putting off surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder.

”When I came back, I didn’t want to give up on this year because next year is a contract year for me,” Gordon said. ”I definitely didn’t want to give up on this team. I thought this was a special team and it’s just good to see where we’re at right now.”

It’s certainly no surprise that the Rob Pelinka client would choose to opt in, even though he’s played better since returning from the injury in January. His 13.3 points per game this season represent a fourth straight year of decline in his scoring average, and though his shot attempts have also gone down each of those years, his PER of 12.7 indicates that he’s not playing efficiently. He’s not the star that many thought he’d become when he was the jewel of the trade package New Orleans received for him in the Chris Paul deal. That reputation helped him earn the offer sheet, a four-year maximum-salary arrangement, that he signed with the Suns in the summer of 2012 and that the then-Hornets matched even after he’d played only nine games in 2011/12 because of injury.

The 26-year-old shooting guard is nonetheless draining 45.3% of his three-pointers, a career-best mark by far for the career 38.0% three-point shooter, and, as Reid points out, he’s been turning it on of late, scoring 16 points or more in five of his last six games. Williams is optimistic that Gordon is turning a corner, Reid notes.

“This is the guy that we thought we were going to have fortunately; he had so many injuries and it was hard for him to get the work in,” Williams said. “I think you are starting to see a part of it but not all of it. I think Eric, because A.D [Anthony Davis] is playing so well and Tyreke [Evans] has the ball a lot, he doesn’t get as many opportunities. I’ve got to find more ways to get him the ball. The thing I like about Eric is he tries to make the right play. Eric has so much in his game that people haven’t seen what all he can do with his ability to score and play off the dribble.”

Gordon expressed regret this week for saying when he signed the offer sheet that “Phoenix is just where my heart is now,” Reid notes. It’s the latest step Gordon has made to distance himself from that comment, an effort that began soon after New Orleans matched the offer. Regardless, it appears he’ll remain with the Pelicans for at least one more season. New Orleans would have about $55.8MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $67.4MM salary cap next season if Gordon were to indeed opt in.

Pacific Notes: Robinson, Goodwin, Kuzmic

March 18th, 2015 at 4:07pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Nate Robinson‘s energy off the bench played a vital role in earning his second 10-day contract, which he signed on Tuesday, writes Rowan Kavner of NBA.com. The guard hasn’t played his best lately, but he believes he can contribute to the team without touching a basketball. “Doc [Rivers] gave me a great opportunity to come in and showcase my talent and be here for these guys and be a veteran leader,” Robinson said. “That’s what I’m working on now, maturing myself and my game and helping our younger guys and leading by example by just playing hard. Everything else will take care of itself.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines the development of 2013 29th overall pick Archie Goodwin, who’s seeing more playing time for the Suns of late, a couple of months after he vented about his lack of minutes. The Suns drew trade suitors for Goodwin but let them know that he remains a significant part of their plan.
The Warriors have assigned Ognjen Kuzmic to their D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, according to the team’s Twitter feed. To date, the 7’1″ center has only played in 16 games this season, totaling 72 minutes of NBA action.
Chris Paul elevated his game and kept the Clippers afloat in the Western Conference while Blake Griffin was out due to an injury. Tom Ziller of SB Nation believes Paul deserves to receive the NBA’s MVP award. Ziller points out that in addition to scoring 18.4 points per game, the point guard creates 23.4 points per game off of his assists. This, along with Paul’s low turnover rate and quality defense, makes the 29-year-old a dark horse contender in the wide open MVP race.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.